


Stop Staring

by afteriwake



Series: In So Few Words [66]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: Awkwardness, Co-workers, F/M, Happy Ending, Irritated Stella, Male Gaze, Poor Hawkes, Stella's Shirts, Two Choices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-19
Updated: 2012-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-14 15:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/516826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheldon has a staring problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop Staring

He couldn't help it. If she was going to wear low-cut tops, even if they were tasteful, his eyes were going to wander. He was a male, and as much as he might not drool over a woman's physique as she walked by, certain parts of the female anatomy on certain women just caught his attention and held it.

"Hawkes? Hawkes? Sheldon!"

"Yes, Stella?"

She looked at him. "Were you staring at my breasts?"

"What? No, Stella. No, I wasn't."

She raised an eyebrow. "Would you be happier if I wore a turtleneck, or would that just make it easier for you to concentrate?"

"No! Stella, I was not staring at you."

She lowered the raised eyebrow, taking a deep breath, which just brought his eyes right back to where they were. "Well, the evidence is pointing right back at the guy, and...Hawkes! Will you stop staring?"

His head snapped up, and finally he sighed. "I can't help it," he said.

"Well, you've got two choices here: stop staring or work with Danny or Mac all the time."

"How about a third option?" he said.

"Like what?"

"Go one day wearing something that isn't low cut. If I can't stop looking, then I'll go work with Danny on his case and pry Lindsay away to work with you."

A smile played on her lips. "This verges on sexual harassment, you know that...right?"

"I know."

"Okay. If you can pay attention the rest of the day..." She shook her head. "Better yet, you go work Trace with Adam, I'll run down the leads. And tomorrow I'll wear something a little less showy."

He nodded. "I can do that." He left the room and Stella watched before shaking her head. If he'd just ask her out on a date, this would all be so much easier. She turned back to the paper but found she couldn't concentrate.

Other than Mac, she was probably closer to Hawkes then anyone else. He just seemed to get her. In some ways, he understood her better than anyone else in the labs. And the fact that he seemed to be attracted to her was partially flattering and partially embarrassing. Not that he was attracted, but that she was to him. Ever since Frankie, she hadn't been attracted to anyone. Or at least that's what she'd thought. Turned out that when she'd started to let her guard down, something strange happened. She realized that she had been attracted to him _before_ the incident with Frankie.

But if it took her wearing something a little higher cut to get him to _do_ something, then that's what it took.

\---

He found that he wasn't staring at her chest. What she apparently hadn't realized is that he'd already spent a fair amount of time just staring at her face, or at her as she walked in and out of a room or up and down a hallway. It had actually just been easier to concentrate on her breasts.

Today, he just kept staring at her until finally, she noticed that.

"So you stare a lot, don't you?" she said, not looking up from the sheaf of papers she was holding.

"Excuse me?"

She looked up at him and sighed. "We're back to two choices here."

"I'll go get Lindsay."

"Not _those_ two choices!" she said, looking up. "Either stop staring and making me uncomfortable or--"

"I made you uncomfortable?" he asked quietly.

"Yes...no...sort of." She sighed. "Look, I want you to answer one question for me."

"All right."

"If...if I had never..."

"If you hadn't been hurt?" he supplied.

She nodded, a grateful smile on her face. "If I hadn't been hurt, would you have ever tried to make a move?"

"Not while you were seeing him, no," he said.

"So...we have two choices here. Stop staring at me and ask me out on a date or work with Danny or Mac all the time."

She watched the grin blossom on his face. "Would you like to have dinner with me tonight, Stella?"

"As long as we finish all this before we get off work," she said with a grin, going back to the paperwork. "And...Hawkes?"

"Yes?"

"You really do need to stop staring. It's distracting."


End file.
